Unit 3 Studying Flashcards

1
Q

Just noticeable difference (jnd)

A

The sensation that results if a change in stimulus intensity exceeds the differential threshold

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2
Q

Absolute threshold

A

The smallest amount of stimulation that can be detected by an organism

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3
Q

Differential threshold

A

The amount that stimulation needs to change before a difference in that stimulation can be detected

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4
Q

Perception

A

According to Helmholtz, the mental experience arising when sensations are embellished by the recollection of past experiences

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5
Q

Bell-Magendie Law

A

There are two types of nerves: sensory nerves carrying impulses from the sense receptors to the brain and motor nerves carrying impulses from the brain to the muscles and glands of the body

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6
Q

Phrenology

A

The examination of the bumps and depressions on the skull in order to determine the strengths and weaknesses of various mental faculties

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7
Q

Clinical method

A

The technique that Broca used. It involves first determining a behavior disorder in a living patient and then, after the patient had died, locating the part of the brain responsible for the behavior disorder

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8
Q

Unconscious inference

A

According to Helmholtz, the process by which the remnants of past experience are added to sensations, thereby converting them into perceptions

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9
Q

Young-Helmholtz theory of colour vision

A

Separate receptor systems on the retina are responsive to each of the three primary colors: red, green, and blue–violet. Also called the trichromatic theory

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10
Q

Method of adjustment

A

An observer adjusts a variable stimulus until it appears to be equal to a standard stimulus

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11
Q

Method of constant stimuli

A

A stimulus is presented at different intensities along with a standard stimulus, and the observer reports if it appears to be greater than, less than, or equal to the standard

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12
Q

Method of limits

A

A stimulus is presented at varying intensities along with a standard (constant) stimulus to determine the range of intensities judged to be the same as the standard

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13
Q

Phrenology

A

The examination of the bumps and depressions on the skull in order to determine the strengths and weaknesses of various mental faculties

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14
Q

Wernicke’s area

A

Discovered on the left temporal lobe of the cortex near the Broca’s area, it’s responsible for speech comprehension.

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15
Q

Vitalism

A

Living organisms possess a unique life force or vital force that distinguishes them from non-living matter. It suggests that this force is responsible for the characteristic properties of life and cannot be fully explained by physical and chemical principles alone.

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16
Q

Weber’s law

A

Just noticeable differences correspond to a constant proportion of a standard stimulus

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17
Q

Psychophysics

A

The systematic study of the relationship between physical and psychological events.

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18
Q

Physiognomy

A

The attempt to determine a person’s character by analyzing his or her facial features, bodily structure, and habitual patterns of posture and movement

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19
Q

Panpsychism

A

The belief that everything in the universe experiences consciousness

20
Q

Kinesthesis

A

The sensations caused by muscular activity

21
Q

Broca’s area

A

The speech area on the left frontal lobe side of the cortex (the inferior frontal gyros)

22
Q

Will

A

According to Wundt, that aspect of humans that allows them to direct their attention anywhere they wish.

23
Q

Voluntarism

A

The name given to Wundt’s school of psychology because of his belief that, through the process of apperception, individuals could direct their attention toward whatever they wished

24
Q

Structuralism

A

The school of psychology founded by Titchener, the goal of which was to describe the structure of the mind

25
Q

Elements of thought

A

According to Wundt and Titchener, the basic sensations from which more complex thoughts are derived

26
Q

Act psychology

A

The name given to Brentano’s brand of psychology because it focused on mental operations or functions. Dealt with the interaction between mental processes and physical events

27
Q

Mental set

A

A problem-solving strategy that can be induced by instructions or by experience and that is used without a person’s awareness

28
Q

Principle of the heterogony of ends

A

According to Wundt, the fact that goal-directed activity often causes experiences that modify the original motivational pattern

29
Q

Principle toward the development of opposites

A

According to Wundt, the tendency for prolonged experience of one type to create a mental desire for the opposite type of experience

30
Q

Stimulus error

A

Letting past experience influence an introspective report

31
Q

Tri-dimensional theory of feeling

A

Wundt’s contention that feelings vary along three dimensions: pleasantness-unpleasantness, excitement-calm, and strain-relaxation

32
Q

Evolutionary psychology

A

A modern extension of Darwin’s theory to the explanation of human and non-human social behavior (also called sociobiology)

33
Q

Spencer-Bain principle

A

The observation first made by Bain and later by Spencer that behavior resulting in pleasurable consequences tends to be repeated and behavior resulting in painful consequences tends not to be

34
Q

Social Darwinism

A

Spencer’s contention that, if given freedom to compete in society, the ablest individuals will succeed and the weaker ones will fail, and this is as it should be

35
Q

Survival of the fittest

A

The notion that, in a struggle for limited resources, those organisms with traits conducive to survival under the circumstances will live and reproduce

36
Q

Evolutionary associationism

A

Spencer’s synthesis of the principle of contiguity and evolutionary theory, would later become the Spencer-Bain principle

37
Q

Coefficient of correlation (r)

A

A mathematical expression indicating the magnitude of correlation between two variables

38
Q

Binet-Simon scale of intelligence

A

The scale Binet and Simon devised to directly measure the various cognitive abilities they believed intelligence comprised. The scale first appeared in 1905 and was revised in 1908 and in 1911

39
Q

Adaptive features

A

Those features that an organism possesses that allow it to survive and reproduce

40
Q

Inheritance of acquired characteristics

A

Lamarck’s contention that adaptive abilities developed during an organism’s lifetime are passed on to the organism’s offspring

41
Q

Natural selection

A

A key concept in Darwin’s theory of evolution. Because more members of a species are born than environmental resources can support, nature selects those with characteristics most conducive to survival under the circumstances, which allows them to reproduce

42
Q

Eugenics

A

The use of selective breeding to increase the general intelligence of the population

43
Q

Factor analysis

A

A complex statistical technique that involves analyzing correlations among measurements and attempting to explain the observed correlations by postulating various influences

44
Q

Fitness

A

According to Darwin, an organism’s ability to survive and reproduce

45
Q

Regression toward the mean

A

The tendency for extremes to become less extreme in one’s offspring. For example, the offspring of extremely tall parents tend not to be as tall as the parents